Herescope

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

Thursday, August 31, 2006

The Generic Global "PEACE" Plan: Part 1

In his 2002 book Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel Warren Smith warned evangelicals that the New Age leaders had come out with a global "peace" plan after the September 11th crisis. This is a theme which Smith further developed in his 2004 book Deceived on Purpose: The New Age Implications of the Purpose-Driven Church, where he examined Rick Warren's global P.E.A.C.E. Plan, and expressed concern about its overlapping similarities to the New Age "peace" plan.

Smith expands this theme in much greater detail in the recent Chapter Updates to Reinventing Jesus Christ which are now posted online. Today's excerpt comes from the Update to Chapter 6. The Update to the original chapter, which described the formation of the Global Renaissance Alliance, reveals that this group has now re-made itself, and has boldly changed its name to the Peace Alliance:

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Spiritual PoliticsIn co-founding the Global Renaissance Alliance – recently renamed the Peace Alliance – Neale Donald Walsch and Marianne Williamson were greatly inspired by a book entitled Spiritual Politics. In fact, both of their enthusiastic endorsements are featured on the front and back covers of this radical 1994 New Age political primer. Neale Donald Walsch’s front cover endorsement reads:

Extraordinary and invaluable.... One of the most important books to appear in the marketplace of ideas in a very long time.(1)

Corinne McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson, the co-authors of Spiritual Politics, frankly admit that their book is based on the “ageless wisdom” that has been passed down through the years from ancient occultists to modern-day occultists. McLaughlin and Davidson openly embrace this “ageless wisdom.” The almost encyclopedic New Age teachings of Alice Bailey are referred to throughout their book. Bailey’s teachings were “telepathically” dictated to her by the Tibetan master Djwhal Khul – a spirit guide also known as DK. The spiritual teachings transmitted to Bailey by DK describe the soon coming of a New Age “Christ” and the establishment of a one-world government. The “Christ” described by DK and Bailey is Maitreya – the same Maitreya described by Benjamin Creme and Wayne Peterson. McLaughlin and Davidson dedicate Spiritual Politics “To M and DK”:

To M and DKand to all the Warriors of the Spirit,that they may awaken to the fire in their heartsand hear the inner anthem calling themto the Great Work.(2)

Thus, it is very revealing that Williamson and Walsch have so openly endorsed a book that is steeped in the occultic teachings of Alice Bailey – teachings that proclaim Maitreya, not Jesus, as “the Christ.” Williamson’s back cover endorsement of Spiritual Politics reads:

Bravo to Corinne and Gordon for shining such a bright light on politics in this groundbreaking book! Spiritual Politics gives us the instructional wisdom of the East and West, as well as the practical tools for helping create effective change in the world. I highly recommend it.(3)

But Williamson’s endorsement is very misleading. Spiritual Politics is not based on anything resembling the “wisdom of the West” which most people associate with Christianity. McLaughlin and Davidson are very clear that Spiritual Politics is based on the hidden, “ageless wisdom” of the occult – the occult traditions that originated with Hermes Trismegistus and culminated in the mystical/New Age teachings of Alice Bailey. In Spiritual Politics they write:

For centuries, the Ageless Wisdom in the West was shielded from an unprepared public.... The unveiled truths were handed down only orally by individual teachers to tested disciples or by certain religious groups and secret societies, such as the Kabbalists, Druids, Essenes, Sufis, Knights Templar, Rosicrucians, Freemasons, and others who carefully guarded the teachings down through the centuries. A study of these secret societies would reveal powerful influences on the history of nations....

Over the last hundred years, the Ageless Wisdom has spread widely in the West, beginning with the work of the Russian Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Her seminal book, The Secret Doctrine, published in 1888, synthesized Christian, Jewish, and Islamic mysticism with the Eastern teachings of Hinduism, Taoism, and Buddhism, showing their common roots and comparing their sacred texts....

The next development came through the teachings of an Englishwoman, Alice Bailey, a former member of the Theosophical Society. In 1919 Bailey was contacted by a Tibetan master, Djwhal Khul, who asked her to write a series of books with him telepathically that would continue Blavatsky’s work. Over a period of thirty years, Bailey received eighteen books from him on the nature of the cosmos and the human being, outlining principles for individual spiritual growth and humanity’s next evolutionary steps. In 1923 Bailey founded Lucis Trust [originally called Lucifer Publishing, ed.] to bring the teachings in her books to the public. A year later she began the Arcane School. The books were written to apply to several levels of consciousness at once and thus can be read by both beginners and advanced students. Her works have been especially helpful to the two of us in our own spiritual growth and have provided much of the inspiration for Spiritual Politics.(4)

Because McLaughlin and Davidson so strongly endorse the Bailey teachings on the politics of a coming New Age “Christ,” the spiritual foundation of the Global Renaissance Alliance became very transparent as Williamson and Walsch both endorsed their book. There is nothing subtle about Spiritual Politics and there is nothing subtle about the “spiritual politics” of Williamson and Walsch and their Global Renaissance Alliance.

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The rest of this Update to Chapter 6 notes the "high profile New Age leaders" who have hobnobbed with "well-known politicians" in their spiritual politics plan for "peace."

Interestingly, Tamara Hartzell, in her new online book In the Name of Purpose: Sacrificing Truth at the Altar of Unity, devotes an entire chapter to this same New Age "peace" plan. Chapter 15 contains many actual excerpts from the writings of Alice Bailey and her spirit guide, Djwhal Khul, the same "DK" referred to above who inspired the writing of Spiritual Politics. These quotations describe the "plan" to create a global "peace" by building a "kingdom" of "world servers." This Luciferian plan, demonically transmitted to the Theosophists a century ago, bears remarkable resemblance to today's various "peace" plans.

We excerpt with permission from Hartzell's commentary and excellent compilation of Theosophical writings:

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Our enemies in the Angel of light’s realm have been working long and hard at fulfilling his Plan. They are achieving marked success in enticing the world into his counterfeit kingdom and its (New Age) New Spirituality that appears as “light” and “peace.” As mentioned earlier (see page 86), Alice Bailey (A.A.B.) was approached by the spirit world to detail “the Plan” in writing. These writings are the basis for the descriptions of this counterfeit kingdom “of God” and its Plan to use world service to bring interfaith unity and “peace” to the world. As is to be expected, these enemies commonly twist Scripture after the pattern of the father of lies, who has been twisting God’s Word since the Garden of Eden. Also not surprisingly, their deceptions twist the nature and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and reveal an ongoing hatred for His true followers and Word.

“I [Djwhal Khul] … have a vision of the Plan … Through the cooperation of A.A.B. I put this plan - as far as was possible - before you, calling your attention to the New Group of World Servers.…

“[T]he vision is a vision of group work, of group relationships, of group objectives, and of the group fusion to the larger Whole.” —Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul1“[T]here is a group of human beings, integrating now … upon whom is laid the burden of leading humanity. They are starting movements that have in them the new vibration, they are saying things that are universal in their tone, they are enunciating principles that are cosmic, they are inclusive and not exclusive, they do not care what terminology a man uses; they insist that a man shall keep his own inner structure of truth to himself and not impose it on any one else … they demonstrate the universal light, they are servers …

“[T]hey are tied by no dogmas or doctrines because they have the word which has come to them in the dark, which they have wrought out for themselves in the strife and stress of their own souls. They meet the need of their fellow men, and theirs is the message of Christ, ‘A new commandment I give you that you love one another.’…

“‘A new commandment I give you’ can be summed up in ‘inclusiveness’, the hallmark of the New Age, the universal spirit, identification, oneness with all your fellowmen.…

“How shall we fit ourselves to meet that requirement, to possess those characteristics which automatically put us into the group of world servers? You will never get there by talking about it … You will get there by doing the next thing correctly.” —Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul (Emphasis added)2The desire for people to stop talking and debating and just start doing and cooperating facilitates interfaith unity among all beliefs and religions. This is exactly what the spirit world has been working toward. In the name of purpose, people are being lured away from doctrine to focus on relationships.

“He [‘Christ’] emphasized the necessity for cooperation, indicating that if we truly follow the Way, we shall put an end to competition, and substitute for it cooperation.…

“Love, brotherhood, cooperation, service, self-sacrifice, inclusiveness, freedom from doctrine, recognition of divinity - these are the characteristics of the citizen of the kingdom, and these still remain our ideals.” —Alice Bailey (Emphasis added)3“As the Members of the Hierarchy [spirit realm] approach closer to us, the dream of brotherhood, of fellowship, of world cooperation and of a peace (based upon right human relations) becomes clearer in our minds. As They draw nearer we vision a new and vital world religion, a universal faith, at-one in its basic idealism with the past but different in its mode of expression.” —Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul (Parentheses in the original; emphasis added)4“It is time that the church woke up to its true mission, which is to materialize the kingdom of God on earth, today, here and now.… People are no longer interested in a possible heavenly state or a probable hell. They need to learn that the kingdom is here, and must express itself on earth … The way into that kingdom is the way that Christ trod. It involves the sacrifice of the personal self for the good of the world, and the service of humanity …” —Alice Bailey (Emphasis added)5“Christ died in order to bring to our notice that the way into the kingdom of God was the way of love and of service. He served and loved and wrought miracles, and gathered together the poor and the hungry.” —Alice Bailey (Emphasis added)6_____________________________________________________The Truth:

In our current era of proliferating, and remarkably coinciding, global "peace" plans -- and as we watch a new harlot Babylon unfolding before our very eyes -- it is wise to consider the wisdom of Matthew Poole, circa 1600, in his Commentary on the Holy Bible (Hendrickson). Pertaining to this verse, he warned:

It is uncertain whether these words were part of the message which Jeremiah by command from God sent to the kings above mentioned, or the prophet's words to the Jews; for as those pagan nations had diviners, dreamers, enchanters, and sorcerers, so the Jews had them also, Isaiah 47:12-13: the meaning is, Hearken to none of them that pretend as from God to foretell your escape from this judgment, and not being brought into servitude to the king of Babylon, for you shall serve the king of Babylon. By prophets he means such as pretended to some Divine revelations. By diviners he means soothsayers, of which were several sorts. By dreamers, such as pretend to revelations in their sleep. By enchanters and sorcerers, he means their astrologers, and such as used necromancy, or by any unlawful ways and means pretended to know the mind and will of God. (Vol 2, p. 577)

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Ignoring Eschatology

“It is time that the church woke up to its true mission, which is to materialize the kingdom of God on earth, today, here and now.… People are no longer interested in a possible heavenly state or a probable hell. They need to learn that the kingdom is here, and must express itself on earth … The way into that kingdom is the way that Christ trod. It involves the sacrifice of the personal self for the good of the world, and the service of humanity …”—Alice Bailey (Cited in chapter 15 of In The Name of Purpose, 5)

For the past 150 years there has been an ongoing emphasis -- first among liberal church leaders, and now among the evangelicals -- to shift the emphasis away from biblical eschatology to the doctrine of building the kingdom of God on earth. One of the most effective ways to do this has been to focus the church's attention on "service" and the pressing needs of here and now, while at the same time ignoring the many comforting Scriptures about Jesus' imminent return and our heavenly home.

This particular strategy is acutely observed by Warren Smith in the Chapter 10 Update to his recently updated Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel, now posted online. ___________________________________

Not Focusing on EschatologyAnother link to Schuller and the New Age/New Spirituality – and perhaps one of the strangest and most unbiblical teachings in The Purpose-Driven Life – was Rick Warren’s discouragement of studying eschatology. Eschatology is the Bible’s description of last days events that include the return of Jesus Christ. Instead of acknowledging all of the prophetic detail in the Bible concerning Jesus’ return – including Jesus’ own words – Rick Warren tried to use Acts 1:6-8 to convince his readers that the details of Jesus return are “none of their business.” He wrote:

When the disciples wanted to talk about prophecy, Jesus quickly switched the conversation to evangelism. He wanted them to concentrate on their mission in the world. He said in essence, “The details of my return are none of your business. What is your business is the mission I’ve given you. Focus on that!”

…If you want Jesus to come back sooner, focus on fulfilling your mission, not figuring out prophecy. (41)

Brian McLaren, one of the pastoral leaders of the controversial “emerging church” movement, also uses Acts 1:6-8 to discourage any interest in last days prophecy. In fact, he sounds just like Rick Warren as he tries to convince his readers that the details of Jesus’ return are “none of their business” – that they need to focus on their mission, not on eschatology. In The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything, McLaren wrote:

…Instead, he tells them it’s none of their business to speculate about how God plans to work out history, and then he gives them a mission to accomplish.(42)

C. Peter Wagner, Rick Warren’s faculty “advisor” and “mentor” at Fuller Seminary, (43)describes how Rick Warren and Brian McLaren are actually just echoing what Robert Schuller has been teaching for years. Wagner divulged how it was Robert Schuller who pioneered the idea of focusing on one’s mission in the world as opposed to focusing on the prophetic details of Jesus’ return (eschatology). Wagner wrote:

A pioneer of focusing on the mission of the church to the surrounding world is Robert H. Schuller, founder of the Crystal Cathedral of Garden Grove, California. (44) [emphasis in original]

Robert Schuller’s advice to young church leaders would seem to apply to new apostolic Christians: “Don’t let eschatology stifle your long-term thinking." (45)

But Schuller, as it turns out, was just repeating what New Age matriarch Alice Bailey wrote as she prepared the way for the New Age “Christ” in her 1948 book The Reappearance of the Christ. In chapter seven, “Preparation for the Reappearance of the Christ,” she said that the details of the Christ’s return were “none of our concern.” She stated that the Christ’s coming was dependent on everyone staying focused on their mission – fulfilling their work in the world:

…If our work is rightly done, He will come at the set and appointed time. How, where or when He will come is none of our concern. Our work is to do our utmost and on as large a scale as possible to bring about right human relations, for His coming depends upon our work.(46)

Looking again at what Rick Warren wrote:

…He wanted them to concentrate on their mission in the world. He said in essence, “The details of my return are none of your business. What is your business is the mission I’ve given you. Focus on that!”

…If you want Jesus to come back sooner, focus on fulfilling your mission, not figuring out prophecy. (47)

Fifty-four years after Bailey’s channeled teaching from the spirit world, Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, and Brian McLaren are saying almost the exact same thing. Don’t worry about prophecy. Focus on your mission. Yet my experience coming out of the New Age taught me just the opposite. In Deceived on Purpose I described how understanding the prophetic details of Jesus’ return had helped me to see how deceived I had been and was absolutely essential to my salvation:

Coming out of New Age teachings, I had learned in a very personal way that the details of Jesus’ return are definitely our business. Understanding the events surrounding His return was critical to understanding how badly I had been deceived by my New Age teachings. I had learned from reading the Bible that there is a false Christ on the horizon and that for a number of years I had unknowingly been one of his followers. Because the Bible’s clear authoritative teachings about the real Jesus and His true return had been brought to my attention, I was able to see how deceived I was. By understanding that there is a false Christ trying to counterfeit the true Christ’s return, I was able to renounce the false Christ I had been following and commit my life to the true Jesus Christ. (48)____________________________________The Truth:"For I would not have you to be ignorant, Brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." (1 Thess 4:13)

"Now we beseech you, Brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the Day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." (2 Thess 2:1-3)

"Looking for that Blessed Hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," (Titus 2:13)"For our conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His Glorious Body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." (Philippians 3:20-21)

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

"Ambassadors" for "peace"

In his new online updated book Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel, ex-New Ager Warren Smith discusses the growing deception in the evangelical world regarding New Spirituality. New Spirituality is nothing more than a re-make of old-time occult Theosophy, and certain neoevangelical leaders seem to find common ground with its tenets.

In the Chapter 8 Update "The Armageddon Alternative" Smith discusses the new "ambassadors" of "peace." The original chapter is a must-read for anyone wishing to understand the real PEACE PLAN lurking beneath the "peace" rhetoric. This updated material brings in a few names of key evangelical leaders who have also proposed revising eschatologies.

Deceived Christian LeadersYet, despite all of this, Emergent Church leader Brian McLaren – just like Barbara Marx Hubbard and her New Age colleagues – is now suggesting that there is “an alternative” to Armageddon. McLaren, and a host of other “emerging” church leaders, are on the cutting edge of introducing New Age concepts into the church. In an on-line article entitled “Emergent Delusion” about Brian McLaren and his popular book A Generous Orthodoxy, Pastor Bob DeWaay explains this emergent movement’s teachings:

Brian McLaren recently appeared in Time Magazine’s list of the twenty five most influential evangelicals…. His selection to the list is based on his role as a key leader in the “emergent” (sometimes called “emerging”) church – a movement popular with young people…. In A Generous Orthodoxy, McLaren tells the story of how he has created a unique version of Christianity by gleaning parts he likes from many sources. The result is what he calls “emergent” Christianity.

The teachings found in A Generous Orthodoxy may sound very unusual…. The kingdom as envisioned by McLaren involves holistic, planetary “salvation” without any apocalyptic intervention of God…. Personal salvation from hell is disparaged as a wrongly motivated “consumer product” that distracts from the more important issue of saving the “whole world”… . (8)

In his latest controversial book The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth That Could Change Everything, Brian McLaren describes the book of Revelation as a book of possibilities. He states that its “prophetic” passages are conditional and that the awful future described in Revelation can be changed. Sounding more like a New Age leader than a Christian pastor, he proposes a peaceful “alternative” to Armageddon. (9)

Ironically, to make his point, McLaren quotes an evangelical leader by the name of Jay Gary. (10) Gary was once the secretary of a World Future Society subcommittee that gave Barbara Marx Hubbard a special award for her outstanding contributions to the field of religion. Hubbard was a co-founding board member of the World Future Society and she still sits on their board of directors. Jay Gary, who remains a member of the World Future Society, was listed along with Hubbard as two of the speakers for the 2006 World Future Society Conference. The World Future Society is an organization of esoteric and New Age futurists from around the world, founded in 1966 for the purpose of creating a new international governance structure. Its global leaders like Barbara Marx Hubbard, John Naisbitt, Harlan Cleveland, and Jay Gary believe they can envision new future scenarios for Earth, and work to create an “alternative to Armageddon.”

It is therefore quite interesting that Jay Gary, the man Brian McLaren was citing as the author of an authoritative article on alternative futures, was now coming forth in the evangelical community again. Gary had previously been exposed over ten years ago by a number of Christian writers as someone who was obviously and openly aligned with top-level New Age leaders, including Robert Muller – former Assistant Secretary-General to the United Nations and well-known New Age author. In 1995 I wrote an extensive article about Jay Gary and his New Age associations entitled "Sign of the Times: Evangelicals and New Agers Together" which was published in several Christian publications. (11)

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Warren Smith continues on in this Chapter 8 Update, noticing disconcerting parallels between Brian McLaren's and Neale Donald Walsch's phraseology about the future.

The World Future Society, mentioned above in connection with neoevangelical leader Jay Gary, has been cited in previous Herescope posts regarding Willis Harman, who met with evangelical leaders in the late 1970s to help them develop new future scenarios. (For more information, use the blog search feature at the upper left corner.) Knowing this, it is no wonder that modern neoevangelicals such as Jay Gary and Brian McLaren are suggesting variant eschatological worldviews.

In this context of "ambassadors" for "peace" it is important to recognize what the World Future Society is really all about. Dr. Dennis Cuddy, a noted authority on the World Future Society, recently described the World Future Society:

The World Future Society (WFS) is an organization of futurists from around the world. It has held a number of General Assemblies as well as specialized conferences since its founding in 1966. On its board of directors have been New Ager Barbara Marx Hubbard, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, author John Naisbitt, government official Harlan Cleveland, and globalist Maurice Strong. The WFS has supported such people as management guru Peter Drucker and, in turn, has been supported by individuals such as psychologist B. F. Skinner, anthropologist Margaret Mead, and corporations such as General Electric, Control Data, General Motors, IBM, Xerox and Weyerhaeuser.

When WFS president Edward Cornish was asked about implantable radio locators (microchips), he said he believed initially they would be voluntary. However, he then acknowledged that "things that are voluntary today have a way of becoming compulsory tomorrow."

Al Gore has been among the hosts at WFS General Assemblies where such topics as "Media Communication As An Agent For Change" have been discussed. And WFS conferences have included "Worldview '84" where attendees discussed transforming nation-states into a New World Order through "management by crisis," when in a "moment of critical instability" the nation-state would collapse and networking groups would form a replacement society.

In a 1994 conference, participants discussed "Creating the 21st Century: Institutions and Social Change." And on March 3, 1998, President Bill Clinton wrote a letter of "greetings to everyone" attending the WFS annual conference, in which he said: "Today is a time of extraordinary opportunity for the peoples of the world as old barriers fall and a new and truly global community emerges." At the WFS annual conference for 2000, its Council member J. Orstrom Moller went even further when he declared: "The problems to be dealt with at the international level require a brand new design…(which) must be some kind of world governance enabling the international community to tackle these challenges without being restricted by old-fashioned concepts such as nationalism and national sovereignty.…In this process the international community must face awkward questions such as…in which cases are international action warranted even if the nation-state does not want it."

The Truth:

"Thus saith the LORD of Hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the Prophets who prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. They say still unto them who despise Me, The LORD has said, You shall have peace; and they say unto every one who walks after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you." (Jeremiah 23:16-17)

Monday, August 28, 2006

The New Age Preacher and His Influence

"Reverend Norman Vincent Peale is, to many, the most prophetic and moving New Age preacher of the twentieth century. He is also the founder of the self-help movement that formed the groundwork for the Church Growth Movement. Peale formed perhaps the most dramatic and meaningful link between religion and psychology of any religious leader in history. It is this same approachable, therapeutic brand of religion that many mega churches, including Saddleback, put forward today.…(George Mair, A Life With Purpose: Reverend Rick Warren: The Most Inspiring Pastor of Our Time [Berkley Books, 2005], p. 93-94)

Norman Vincent Peale's influence was like leaven permeating all of neoevangelicaldom. His influence carried far beyond Saddleback and is now being exported globally, not only by Rick Warren, but by another evangelical mega-leader -- Ken Blanchard -- who is connected to Rick Warren through their joint global leadership training initiatives.

Relevant to this discussion is the announcement that another important book has just been posted online! Warren Smith has recently updated each chapter in Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel. Many events have transpired since 2002 when Warren first wrote about New Age leaders like Neale Donald Walsch, Marianne Williamson and Oprah Winfrey and their striking similarities and interconnections with evangelical leaders.

A few years after writing Reinventing Jesus Christ, Warren Smith wrote Deceived on Purpose: The New Age Implications of the Purpose-Driven Church. In this best-selling book Smith contended that there were New Age implications to Rick Warren's Global P.E.A.C.E. Plan, and he particularly focused upon the influence of mega-church leader of the Crystal Cathedral, Rev. Robert Schuller.

In his new online version of Reinventing Jesus Christ and its chapter updates, Warren Smith puts forth exciting new material that is also relevant to Deceived on Purpose. Once again, Smith has noticed the profound influence of Robert Schuller on the thinking of Rick Warren. A fascinating Chapter 10 Update examines how Schuller's thinking was influenced by Norman Vincent Peale, and how Peale's thinking was influenced by the New Ager Florence Scovel Shinn.

On page 162 of A Time of Departing, Ray Yungen explains the important background information to this scenario. He noted that George Mair's book, A Life with Purpose, which was a "positive account" of Rick Warren's life, stated that:

"New Age prophet Norman Vincent Peale was at the foundation of the church-growth movement and furthermore 'many of Peale's uplifting affirmations originated with an "obscure teacher of occult science" named Florence Scovel Shinn.'"

Mair's book, on pages 91-100, does indeed give quite a bit of credit to Norman Vincent Peale, observing that Peale was the first mega-church pastor to bring in salesman techniques, a prosperity gospel, psychology and metaphysics. (Given this glowing description, it is no wonder that Mair's book created quite a stir among the Saddleback apologists when it first came out!)

The following material is excerpted with permission from the Chapter 10 Update of Warren Smith's newly-expanded Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel(Copyright 2006) posted at www.reinventingjesuschrist.com:

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Norman Vincent PealeSometime in March 2005, before all of Ken Blanchard’s New Age endorsements came to light, I received two articles from a pastor from Indianapolis, Indiana. One of the articles was a clipping from the August 3, 1995 Indianapolis Star. It had a big picture of Norman Vincent Peale and the headline read:

Norman Vincent Peale accused of plagiarism‘Power of Positive Thinking’ author’s work similar to that of a little-known teacher of occult science.(88)

The article, published by Knight-Ridder Newspapers, asked the question: “Was the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale, father of the ‘believe and succeed’ theology sweeping American Protestantism, a plagiarist inspired by the occult?” In attempting to answer that question, the newspaper referred to an article from the Lutheran Quarterly that had contended that Norman Vincent Peale drew much of his inspiration from the writings and teachings of occult/New Age author Florence Scovel Shinn. Concerning the Lutheran Quarterly article, the Indianapolis paper stated:

After comparing his books to hers, the authors cite scores of specific instances in which Peale and Shinn not only think alike, but use similar or identical phrases.(89)

The newspaper article went on to say:

Shinn, who died in 1940, drew on mystical sources dating to the ancient Egyptian philosopher Hermes Trismegistus and the secrets of Freemasonry.

Such sources are progenitors of New Age, a movement considered ungodly hocus-pocus by conservative and fundamentalist Christians….

Shinn’s privately published metaphysical works, reissued by both Simon & Schuster and the Church of Religious Science, are available in New Age bookstores. Peale penned the introduction to the Simon & Schuster edition, indicating he had “long used” Shinn’s teachings.(90)

The Indiana pastor had included a copy of the Lutheran Quarterly article that the Indianapolis paper had referred to. The Lutheran Quarterly article exposed Peale’s unattributed use of Shinn’s occult/New Age teachings. The Peale/Shinn side by side quotes clearly demonstrated the similarity of their writings. The authors wrote:

THE STRIKING SIMILARITY between these passages discloses an unsettling theological secret. Along with many other parallel concepts, affirmations, metaphors, and stories, they provide testimony that the writing that made Norman Vincent Peale “minister to millions” and a millionaire many times over, shows a startling similarity to the writings of an obscure teacher of Occult science named Florence Scovel Shinn. Whatever may be the embarrassment caused by these striking similarities, it pales against the discomfiture that millions of mainline Christians, purporting to stand on orthodoxy and Scripture alone, have thus unwittingly embraced the Occult. So strong is its tacit foothold that it now may well be the primary working faith of many in the churches….(91)

The pastor told me that he was reminded of the Lutheran Quarterly article after reading my book, Deceived on Purpose: The New Age Implications of the Purpose-Driven Church. My observations concerning the New Age implications of Rick Warren taking unattributed material from Robert Schuller had reminded him of this article about Norman Vincent Peale taking unattributed material from Florence Scovel Shinn. The pastor pointed out that the New Age implications of Rick Warren’s teachings did not stop with his teacher Robert Schuller, or even to Schuller’s teacher, Norman Vincent Peale. It stretched back through all of them to the occult itself. A deeper look into Peale’s background confirmed that this 33rd degree Freemason had endorsed other New Age authors and teachers through the years.(92) Ironically, one of the New Age authors endorsed by Peale was Bernie Siegel – the same Bernie Siegel that Rick Warren had indiscriminately referred to in The Purpose-Driven Life. The Indiana pastor suggested that Norman Vincent Peale had popularized the occult within the mainstream Christian Church, and that these teachings may have been passed along to pastors like Robert Schuller and Rick Warren, who in turn passed them on to millions of others.

It is not surprising that New Age leader Neale Donald Walsch openly praises Norman Vincent Peale in much the same way as he did with Schuller. In discussing occult manifestation – how feelings inside of you can create events outside of you – Walsch states:

This phenomenon is discussed with extraordinary insight in the classic book The Power of Positive Thinking, written over fifty years ago by the Reverend Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, a Christian minister who understood that feelings are a gift from God, giving us the power of creation.(93)

When Ken Blanchard and Rick Warren co-led the 2003 Lead Like Jesus Conference in Alabama, Blanchard stated that Norman Vincent Peale had been one of the men responsible for bringing him into the faith.

And God started sending me this team, Bob Buford, Norman Vincent Peale, and [Bill] Hybels. All kinds of people started coming after me. I finally joined up in 1987-88 and turned my life over to the Lord…. I found out this is a really good deal.(94)

As a new Christian, Blanchard had co-authored The Power of Ethical Management with Peale, shortly after Peale had endorsed Bernie Siegel’s book Love, Medicine and Miracles. Incredibly, a website for Indian Guru Paramahansa Yogananda devotees stated that the Blanchard and Peale book had actually been “ghost-written” by Blanchard’s longtime New Age friend, Jim Ballard.(95) Blanchard’s Christian testimony We are the Beloved was also listed on this same website as having been “ghost-written” by Ballard. Because Ballard is a Yogananda devotee, and was being featured on the Yogananda website, it is presumed that the information was provided by Ballard himself. It would seem that Blanchard’s early relationship with Peale, as well as his thirty-year friendship with Ballard, may have helped to contribute to Blanchard’s serious lack of discernment still in evidence today.

Although Blanchard has been presented as naïve by many of his defenders – including Rick Warren – a closer examination of Blanchard’s past reveals a much different story.…

Friday, August 25, 2006

A "Divine Convergence"

"God is in the process of preparing the perfect storm. He is orchestrating a divine convergence of multiple streams in the Body of Christ from multiple aspects of His Kingdom. He is bringing them all together in this season. He is raising up ministries that are able to 'multi-task' in the Spirit. They are not focused only on one movement or one flow of the spirit, but they are able to flow in and out of different streams and expressions of His Kingdom power and manifestation. He is causing all the streams to flow together as one river. The prophetic movement, the worship movement, the prayer movement, the faith movement, the youth movement, the men's movement, the missions movement, the reconciliation movement; He is causing each of these movements to converge and become part of each other. When each of these movements begin to operate in concert within His church, great power and authority will be released. We are in a season of the beginnings of a Divine Convergence.

"Approximately a week after the Lord began to share these truths with me, I was in a meeting with a prophetic minister named James Goll. As James began to minister He stated that his message was entitled 'The Convergence of the Ages'. I was stunned. He further declared that we would begin to hear the word 'Convergence' in an array of places because it was what the Lord is saying and it is what the Lord is doing in this season. That night he ministered that the Lord was joining multiple streams together and that there was coming a great release of power. He actually used the phrase Divine Convergence."(Billy Humphrey, "Divine Convergence")

From Chapter 18, entitled "One God, Many Paths," of Tamara Hartzell's new online book Inthe Name of Purpose: Sacrificing Truth at the Altar of Unity," the reader learns more about this anticipated "Divine Convergence." Here is an excerpt with important background information about the false prophets' call for the "streams to flow together" into a mighty new "river."

“The Religions are the Tributaries of One Great River”

“This concept [of unification] … does involve the development of a universal public consciousness which realizes the unity of the whole … It requires simply the recognition that all formulations of truth and of belief are only partial in time and space, and are temporarily suited to the temperaments and conditions of the age and race. Those who favor some particular approach to the truth will nevertheless achieve the realization that other approaches and other modes of expression and terminologies, and other ways of defining deity can be equally correct and in themselves constitute aspects of a truth which is greater and vaster than man’s present equipment can grasp and express.” —Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul (Emphasis added)1One thing leads to another in the (New Age) New Spirituality’s larger understanding of “truth.” Since “the One Truth” is believed to underlie every religion, they are all considered to be on different but equally valid paths (approaches) to God. This “unity in diversity” allows for everyone to keep their own theology and doctrinal convictions and worship “styles” as their own portion and expression of the “fullness of truth.” This is the New Spirituality’s false gospel of Oneness: “We are all one. Ours is not a better way, ours is merely another way.”

This Oneness is found in Theosophy (part of the “Ancient Wisdom”) taught by both Alice Bailey and H. P. Blavatsky. It includes the following widespread principles listed by the Blavatsky Net Foundation:

● “Brotherhood is a fact in nature. We are ONE at the highest spiritual component of our nature. We are sparks from one flame.”

● “The religions of the world are branches on the tree whose trunk is the one ancient - once universal - wisdom religion. The religions are the tributaries of one great river.”

● “Humanity’s potential is infinite and every being has a contribution to make toward a grander world. We are all in it together. We are one.” (Emphasis added)2

It isn’t the message and Kingdom of God that are growing in popularity, but rather of the god of this world—the same god that enticed all to come together as ONE to build the tower of Babel.

“The day is dawning when all religions win [sic] be regarded as emanating from one great spiritual source; all will be seen as unitedly providing the one root out of which the universal world religion will inevitably emerge. Then there will be neither Christian nor heathen, neither Jew nor Gentile, but simply one great body of believers, gathered out of all the current religions. They will accept the same truths, not as theological concepts but as essential to spiritual living; they will stand together on the same platform of brotherhood and of human relations; they will recognize divine sonship and will seek unitedly to cooperate with the divine Plan … Such a world religion is no idle dream but something which is definitely forming today.” —Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul (Bold added)3

The Master Deceiver’s Plan is indeed forming today. He is achieving tremendous success in neutralizing today’s Christianity. A poll conducted in early August 2005 for Newsweek and Beliefnet asked the question, “Can a good person who isn’t of your religious faith go to heaven or attain salvation, or not?” And 68% of Evangelical Protestants and 83% of Non-Evangelical Protestants answered, “YES”! There was virtually no difference between Evangelicals and Non-Christians of whom 73% answered, “Yes.”4

This is clearly indicative of the current departurefrom the faith (not a “spiritual awakening”) in the new broad-minded “Christianity.” This new “Christianity” that believes the world does not need to change its ways also believes that the world doesn’t even need to change its religion (faith). The world can stay in whatever religious faith—whatever path to God—it wants and just add a “relationship” with God to it.

“I’m not talking about a religion this morning. Okay? You may be Catholic or Protestant or Buddhist or Baptist or Muslim or Mormon or Jewish or Jain, or you have no religion at all. I’m not interested in your religious background. Because God did not create the universe for us to have religion. He came for us to have a relationship with him.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)5

“One day we’re gonna stand before God and he is going to ask two questions. The first question is, ‘What did you do with my Son Jesus Christ?’ Not ‘What religion were you?’ Not what denomination, not what background, where did you go to church. We were created for a relationship, not a religion - not rituals, not rules, not regulations.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)6“I have known many people who believe in the Messiah of Jesus, regardless of what religion they are, because they believe in him. It’s about a relationship, not a religion. You’ve heard this many times.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)7

In both the (New Age) New Spirituality and the Purpose-Driven Paradigm, doctrinal views (theological creeds) and the faith of Christianity are irrelevant:

“One day you will stand before God, and he will do an audit of your life, a final exam, before you enter eternity.… God won’t ask about your religious background or doctrinal views.” (PDL; p. 34; emphasis added)

“What is this church of Christ? It is constituted of the sumtotal of all those in whom the life of Christ or the Christ-consciousness is to be found or is in process of finding expression; it is the aggregation of all who love their fellowmen, because to love one’s fellowmen is the divine faculty which makes us full members of Christ’s community. It is not the accepting of any historical fact or theological creed which places us en rapport with Christ.” —Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul (Emphasis added)8“The Christ has no religious barriers in His consciousness. It matters not to Him of what faith a man may call himself.” —Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul (Emphasis added)9

“I happen to know people who are followers of Christ in other religions.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)10

Clearly, the message has changed! Rick Warren’s various statements render one’s religion irrelevant, even though he has acknowledged that all religions “have a different way to get to God”:

“I would say I am more interested in having a relationship with God than a religion. To me, I define religion as man’s attempt to get to God. And I have studied all the major religions … and they all just have a different way to get to God. Now, they are – anybody who has studied religions knows that they are mutually exclusive.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)11

Incidentally, Rick Warren has said, “Because I had been raised in a Christian home, I rejected it all, and I decided to study the religions of the world. I actually moved to Japan, and I studied Buddhism, Shintoism, Hinduism. I studied all the religions of the world.”12 Then he should know that religions aren’t just a “different way to get to God,” they follow different gods!

At the BWA’s Centenary Congress, where the recurrent theme was “unity, unity, unity,”13 the following statements were made by Jimmy Carter and Rick Warren:

“One of the world’s most prominent Baptists, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, said the desire for oneness is a powerful force for global good. Differences of belief -- even among Muslims, Jews and Christians -- are outweighed by a common commitment ‘to truth …’ Carter said.” (Emphasis added)14“Many people are ‘too glib’ in claiming the label of ‘Christian.’ If instead people define a ‘Christian’ as ‘a little Christ,’ it would have more meaning and produce more Christ-like behavior, he [Carter] said.” (Emphasis added)15“I don’t see many people interested in Christendom. But I see a lot of people interested in God.” —Rick Warren16

First, as is increasingly evidenced, not even professing Christians are still interested in Christendom. They and the world prefer Oneness because its relativism allows them to follow the path of their choice on the “label” (religion) of their choice. “The desire for oneness” clearly shows the world is not interested in the true and living God or in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Incidentally, it is the reducing of Christ to a universal “example” that leads to the anti-Christ belief that people can become “little Christs.” The definition of “Christian” is broadening, true to the Master Deceiver’s Plan:

“It is here that the Church, as usually understood, meets its major challenge. Is it spiritual enough to let go of theology and … widen its horizon and recognize as truly Christian all who demonstrate the Christ spirit, whether they be Hindu, Mohammedan, or Buddhist, whether they are labeled by any name other than that of orthodox Christian?” —Alice Bailey (Emphasis added)17

"Then you shall say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken Me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My Law. And you have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me." (Jeremiah 16:11-12)

“Together as ONE We Can Change the World”On June 3, 2005, Rick Warren announced his support of “The ONE Campaign: To Make Poverty History” in an e-mail titled, “Will You Join Me?” In it, he acknowledged that this Campaign has been “endorsed by a wide coalition of folks from all across the faith and political spectrum” (emphasis added). He also explained how he was joining with “U.S. Faith Leaders” in sending a letter to President Bush to lobby him to fight global poverty at the G8 Summit this past July. He and the other Faith Leaders included the following statements in their letter to Bush:

“Americans are uniting as ONE across political and religious divides to support action to overcome the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty.”

In support of The ONE Campaign, on July 2, 2005 Rick Warren attended the Live 8 Concert in Philadelphia, of which he was reportedly made “official pastor.”3 In covering this event, Forbes reported:

“Prior to the concert, Warren joined One organizers in a rally on the steps behind the Philadelphia Art Museum to encourage young volunteers.

“‘Because you are involved in the One Campaign, you are interested in change,’ he said. ‘If you are serious about change, you need to do two things. First, focus on vision, not need; call out the greatness in people, not their guilt. Secondly, don’t tell it like it is, but rather like it could be, should be, and may be.

“‘We don’t want people to die of poverty or diseases for which we already have cures, because God loves them.’ Warren continued. I believe with all my heart we can do this - and I believe you are the generation to do it.’ Pastor Warren was joined on the platform by Pastor Herb Lusk, with whom he is partnering on the Purpose Driven ‘Stand for Africa’ campaign.

“‘I was in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968 when the voice of Martin Luther King was silenced - it was the darkest day of my life.’ Pastor Lusk said. ‘But I look at Bono, Rick Warren, the One movement, and I realize that voice is still alive.’

“‘I don’t know all the statistics -- I’m just a country preacher - but I do know there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and one Father who is in us and above us all - and there is the One campaign.’” [!] (Emphasis added)4

The U.N.’s Goals: Uniting the World as ONEThe ONE Campaign consists of a growing number of partners that either directly or indirectly support strengthening the United Nations and fulfilling its goals. In fact, the following is the Campaign’s answer to the question, “How does ONE link to international agreements to fight poverty?”:

“ONE links directly to the international effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. 1% more of the US federal budget would help save millions of lives and be a major commitment towards achieving the internationally agreed upon United Nations Millennium Development Goals.” (Emphasis added)5In their letter to President Bush, Rick Warren and the U.S. Faith Leaders, in accordance with this purpose of The ONE Campaign, asked him to give “just ONE percent more of the US budget.”6 They did so seemingly without any regard for the far-reaching ramifications of strengthening the United Nations and its goals.

The U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are uniting the world and its religions (faiths) in transcendent common purpose. These goals are the international development goals in the U.N.’s Millennium Declaration, a Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on September 8, 2000. This Resolution declares the United Nations and its Charter to be “indispensable foundations of a more peaceful, prosperous and just world.” This Resolution also explicitly upholds Agenda 21, the Kyoto Protocol, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, among other destructive U.N. agendas.7 This Resolution has been adopted by all United Nations Member States,8 and now it is also being supported by today’s Christianity and other religions via its MDGs.

The framework is all coming together for the U.N.’s ultimate goal of uniting the world as ONE under its control. Its comprehensive Resolution, which the world has embraced, also contains the following statements (emphasis added):

“We are determined to establish a just and lasting peace all over the world in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter.”

“As the most universal and most representative organization in the world, the United Nations must play the central role.” “We will spare no effort to make the United Nations a more effective instrument for pursuing all of these priorities …”

“We solemnly reaffirm, on this historic occasion, that the United Nations is the indispensable common house of the entire human family, through which we will seek to realize our universal aspirations for peace, cooperation and development. We therefore pledge our unstinting support for these common objectives and our determination to achieve them.”9

On the U.N.’s website directly underneath the heading, “Charter of the United Nations,” the belief is upheld that unity can change the world:

“We the Peoples of the United Nations … United for a Better World.” (Ellipsis dots in the original)10

Only on the very surface do the U.N.’s goals appear noble and compassionate. These eight MDGs have much in common with the giants of Rick Warren’s Global PEACE Plan, such as fighting poverty, hunger, disease, and lack of education.11 Yet underlying the seemingly compassionate surface is a massive networking of purposes, principles, and control interweaving throughout every aspect of society that seeks to draw all into the new world order.

This new world order will culminate in Satan’s global government—a Beast that will fulfill Satan’s Dream, Vision, and Plan in its devouring of the whole world (e.g., see Revelation 13 and Daniel 7:7-8, 21, 23-25). It will succeed by using the Angel of light’s message and works of counterfeit “light” and “peace” to deceive, assimilate, and unite those who refuse to love God’s absolute truth. Those who refuse to compromise the truth and cooperate with its works of darkness will be purged from the planet.

At this time, the U.N. is the most prominent organization behind Satan’s Plan for a global government. Skeptics have pointed out that the U.N. has no teeth—i.e., no power to enforce its laws. Satan himself is going to be the teeth in his global government through his coming Antichrist, regarding whom Scripture says “the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority” (Revelation 13:2).

Incidentally, the U.N. has even been referred to as “the body of Christ” by the world-renowned, U.N.-adored Robert Muller, who personifies the (New Age) New Spirituality beliefs and goals of the U.N.12 When fully implemented, the U.N.’s agendas will hold dire consequences for true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Regarding the comprehensiveness of its Resolution that has already been adopted by the world, even U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has admitted:

“The Adoption of the Millennium Development Goals, drawn from the United Nations Millennium Declaration, was a seminal event in the history of the United Nations. It constituted an unprecedented promise by world leaders to address, as a single package, peace, security, development, human rights and fundamental freedoms.” (Emphasis added)13

Nevertheless, a growing number of Christian organizations have blindly joined the world in backing the U.N. and its goals, such as directly or through The ONE Campaign. Likewise, Rick Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan “coordinated its early efforts with United Nations and other relief agencies,” according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.14 Support for the U.N. is global.

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TO READ the remaining sections in this chapter, go HERE:Interfaith “Bread for the World” Feeds the Hungry“Unity Comes from Purpose, Not from Anything Else”

“In every race and nation, in every climate and part of the world … men have found the Path to God … The testimony to the existence of this Path is the priceless treasure of all the great religions and its witnesses are those who have transcended all forms and all theologies, and have penetrated into the world of meaning which all symbols veil.

“These truths are part of all that the past gives to man.… They are the inner structure of the One Truth upon which all the world theologies have been built …” —Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul (Emphasis added)1“Another point which should be remembered is that in the new generation lies hope - … hope because of the promptness with which they recognize truth wherever it is to be found …

“The churches in the West need to realize that basically there is only one church, but it is not necessarily only the orthodox Christian institution; God works in many ways, through many faiths and religious agencies; in their union will the fullness of truth be revealed.” —Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul (Emphasis added)2

In his biography of Rick Warren, Richard Abanes has a chapter titled, “A New Spirituality?” in which he tries to show that Rick Warren is against it. In this chapter, he defends Rick Warren’s tendency to quote “many non-Christians and people of other religious traditions.” Abanes points out that Rick Warren does this, not “because he agrees with them on everything,” and not “because he is promoting them as examples of sound Christians,” but because “he is showing that all ‘truth’—wherever it may be found—is God’s truth” (emphasis added)!3

This defense even challenges what Abanes had said in the beginning of his book: “Rick Warren’s mega-bestseller seems to be helping a lot of people find Jesus and focus on God as the only source of truth.”4

If “all ‘truth’ is God’s truth,” then these other sources of “truth” found in other religions (faiths) and perspectives must be given equal authority with God’s Word. Indeed, this is increasingly evident in those that believe this. Contrarily, the Lord God, Who is not on the broad way and is the truth and light, definitely is the only source of truth (light). Therefore, the truth can only be found in God and not “wherever it may be found” on the broad way of darkness, which is where “non-Christians” and “other religious traditions” are that Rick Warren is supposedly quoting “God’s truth” from!

This lack of discernment is prevalent in Christianity today, which is why the (New Age) New Spirituality is making such broad inroads into it. Yet God’s Word and warnings go unheeded when people only want to hear what is “positive” rather than the whole counsel of God, which includes a great deal of what is deemed “negative.”

The Spirit of truth, Who cannot be received by the world, is the One Who guides us into “all truth” when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (see John 8:31-32, 16:13, and 14:17). He guides us into “all truth” through the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ, not through the teachings of different religions (faiths) as is believed today.

“We believe we can learn truth -- I’ve learned a lot of truth from different religions. Because they all have a portion of the truth.” —Rick Warren (Emphasis added)5

It isn’t both God’s truth and the broad way; it is either God’s truth or the broad way. Yet the former is exactly what the Angel of light, Lucifer, wants mankind to believe and has been teaching through his various channelers for a long time. In the 1888 issue of the theosophical magazine Lucifer, the popular occultist H. P. Blavatsky wrote an article titled, “To the Readers of ‘Lucifer,’” in which she expounded this doctrine of devils, which according to Lucifer’s devices has twisted and changed the meaning of “absolute truth”:

“Our motto was from the first, and ever shall be: ‘THERE IS NO RELIGION HIGHER THAN--TRUTH.’ Truth we -search for, and, once found, we bring it forward before the world, whencesoever it comes.…

“There is, and can be, but one absolute truth in Kosmos. And … if it is absolute it must also be omnipresent and universal; and that in such case, it must be underlying every world-religion -- the product of the thought and knowledge of numberless generations of thinking men. Therefore, that a portion of truth, great or small, is found in every religious and philosophical system, and that if we would find it, we have to search for it at the origin and source of every such system, at its roots and first growth, not in its later overgrowth of sects and dogmatism. Our object is not to destroy any religion but rather to help to filter each, thus ridding them of their respective impurities. In this we are opposed by all those who maintain, against evidence, that their particular pitcher alone contains the whole ocean.” —H. P. Blavatsky (Emphasis added; caps in the original)6

The emerging universal religion (the “New” Spirituality) does not seek to remove all religious divisions. This would actually oppose its purpose of getting people to believe there are many paths to God. Instead, it seeks to draw people into the belief that all religions (faiths) have drawn “a portion of truth” from the same source, the “ocean” of the “fullness of truth.” Then they can be lured deeper into deception. Those who believe that “the One Truth” underlies all religions (theologies) can easily be led into believing that all gods are simply diverse manifestations of “the one God” and that all religions are just a different path to God.

_______________________________________

The Truth:

"Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD has spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God, before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while you look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and my eye eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD's flock is carried away captive." (Jeremiah 13:15-17)

“One way [to ‘pray all the time’] is to use ‘breath prayers’ throughout the day … You choose a brief sentence or a simple phrase that can be repeated to Jesus in one breath …” (PDL; p. 89) “With practice you can develop the habit of praying silent ‘breath prayers’ for those you encounter.” (PDL; p. 299)

Aside from the fact that exhaling your sins, etcetera, is sheer nonsense, “spiritual breathing” is an occultic method taught by Eastern gurus, such as Sri Chinmoy, for exhaling one’s impurities (sins) and inhaling things of God. It is based on the Eastern belief in pantheism that All is One -- All is God and God is All.

“We are all seekers, and our goal is the same: to achieve inner peace, light, and joy, to become inseparably one with our Source …

“To live in joy is to live the inner life. This is the life that leads to self-realisation. Self-realisation is God-realisation, for God is nothing other than the Divinity that is deep inside each one of us, waiting to be discovered and revealed.” —SriChinmoy.org6“When you breathe in, if you can feel that the breath is coming directly from God, from Purity itself, then your breath can easily be purified. Then, each time you breathe in, try to feel that you are bringing infinite peace into your body.…

“Feel that you are breathing in not air but cosmic energy … and that you are going to use it to purify your body, vital, mind and heart.… It is flowing like a river inside you, washing and purifying your entire being. Then, when you breathe out, feel that you are breathing out all the rubbish inside you … Anything inside your system that you call undivine, anything that you do not want to claim as your own, feel that you are exhaling.…

“When you have perfected this spiritual breathing, all your impurity and ignorance will be replaced by God’s light, peace and power.” —Sri Chinmoy Centre (Emphasis added)7

In The Hindu-Yogi Science of Breath, in a chapter titled “Yogi Spiritual Breathing,” Yogi Ramacharaka also points out the goal of “spiritual breathing.” Basically, it is to come to the realization or “consciousness” that the true “identity of the Soul” is Divine (“a drop from the Divine Ocean”) and is connected with “the Universal Life” (i.e., All is One -- “at-one-ment with All”).8

Occultic practices, which originate from “doctrines of devils” regarding universal energies and forces, do not suddenly become acceptable to the holy Lord God merely because churches have “Christianized” them and refer to them as “Christian.” On the contrary, these practices have been designed by the evil spirit world to bring unity and “connection” with the god of this world, “the God of forces,” whom the Antichrist will honor (e.g., see Daniel 11:38-39).

Those who try to “Christianize” occultic practices are playing with “strange fire.” It is not a coincidence that professing Christians who practice the occultic Eastern methods of “prayer” are being gradually drawn into the interfaith Oneness of the world and its (New Age) New Spirituality. This “New” Spirituality is actually based on the so-called “Ancient Wisdom.”

The fruit of the unholy spirits who lie in wait to deceive all who enter the Angel of light’s realm is destructive. Their ultimate goal is to get mankind to believe in its own divinity -- the ultimate defiance against the Lord God.

To further their goal, the spirit world approached Alice Bailey to spread its teachings (the Ageless/Ancient Wisdom). Bailey was a theosophist and occultist who “telepathically” channeled many teachings from one of her spirit guides known as “the Tibetan,” or “the Master Djwhal Khul” -- “one of the Masters of the Wisdom.”9 (Appropriately, Bailey’s Publishing Company, which is now called Lucis Trust, was originally named Lucifer Trust.)

Together, in numerous books, these two detailed “the Plan” of the spirit realm (a.k.a. “the Spiritual Hierarchy”) for the coming New Age/New World Order/New World Religion and its (counterfeit) “Christ” and his kingdom (which will be elaborated on later). In fact, coining the term New Age has even been attributed to Bailey.10 She and her spirit guide also detailed the methods and fruit of occultic practices, such as the following:

“… by surrendering himself to the life at the center and there holding himself poised and still, yet alert, the light will break in and reveal to the disciple that which he needs to know. He learns to express that inclusive love which is his major requirement and to let go the narrow, one-pointed attitude which he has hitherto regarded as love. He welcomes then all visions, if they serve to lift and comfort his brothers; he welcomes all truths, if they are the agents of revelation to other minds; he welcomes all dreams if they can act as incentives to his fellow men. He shares in them all, yet retains his poised position at the center.” —Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul (Emphasis added)11

“Contemplation has been described, as a psychic gateway, leading from one state of consciousness to another.” —Alice Bailey (Emphasis added)12

“In contemplation, a higher agent enters in. It is the Soul that contemplates. The human consciousness ceases its activity and the man becomes what he is in reality - a soul, a fragment of divinity, conscious of its essential oneness with Deity. The Higher Self becomes active, and the lower or personal self is entirely quiescent and still, whilst the true spiritual Entity enters into its own kingdom and registers the contacts that emanate from that spiritual realm of phenomena.…

“The man’s consciousness, therefore, is no longer focused in that waiting mind, but has slipped over the borderland into the realm of spirit and he becomes literally the soul, functioning in its own realm, perceiving the ‘things of the Kingdom of God,’ able to ascertain truth at first hand …” —Alice Bailey (Bold added)13

“… on the higher planes we are all one. One life pulsates and circulates through all … This is part of the revelation which comes to a man who stands in the ‘Presence’ with his eyes occultly opened.…

“Faith is lost in sight, and things unseen are seen and known. No more can he doubt, but he has become instead, through his own effort, a knower.

“His oneness with his brothers is proven, and he realizes the indissoluble link which binds him to his fellowmen everywhere.” —Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul (Bold added)14

Sadly, warning people to compare all subjective experiences with the final authority of God’s Word is commonly dismissed with scornful and fallacious worldly reasoning. Subjective experience is now more important than truth to people and is even now viewed as “truth” itself. Refusing to acknowledge the dangers shows a tremendous lack of understanding of the occult and of the devices of our spiritual enemy.

The journey down this occult path will not lead to becoming “like Christ.” But it will lead to the deceptive “awakening” of the “Christ consciousness” within, which is defined as the following by Ray Yungen in A Time of Departing: How Ancient Mystical Practices are Uniting Christians with the World’s Religions:

“Christ consciousnessTaught by New Agers to be the state of awareness, reached in meditation, in which one realizes that one is divine and one with God and thereby becoming a Christ or an enlightened being.”15

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

Monday, August 21, 2006

"A Whole New Species of Church Is Emerging"

The following post is an excerpt from Chapter 22 of In the Name of Purpose: Sacrificing Truth on the Altar of Unity by Tamara Hartzell. This new on-line book is a comprehensive and in-depth look at the nature of the purpose-driven movement. Chapter 22 is entitled "A Radically Different Kind of Church" for "the New Age." Today's excerpted section begins this chapter, subtitled: “A Whole New Species of Church Is Emerging.”

There is a “Christian” book that epitomizes the current path of the counterfeit Christianity, which is emerging as the old faith crumbles away. Although there are many such books published now, Growing Spiritual Redwoods by William Easum and Thomas Bandy1 provides a clear illustration of the “new way of thinking,” and has been acclaimed as “perhaps the best book about church transformation in this century.”2

Bill Easum is “one of the pioneering pastors of the church growth movement,” and is “one of the most highly respected church consultants and Christian futurists in North America.”3 Tom Bandy “consults with congregations for church growth and transformation,” and “congregational and denominational leaders regard Tom as one of the leading thinkers and writers today.”4 The two joined forces to form Easum, Bandy and Associates, which consults “with churches of every size and culture” and links “countless” leaders through “one of the largest religious interactive websites in North America.”5

In spite of the blatant (New Age) New Spirituality in their book, Growing Spiritual Redwoods has received high praises by men who are popular leaders themselves in today’s Christianity. Rick Warren, Lyle Schaller, and Leonard Sweet (whose own books are self-evident that he has fallen for the (New Age) New Spirituality6) have given this book the following endorsements:

“This may be the most significant study book for congregational leaders published in this century.” —Lyle Schaller (Growing Spiritual Redwoods – GSR; front cover)

“An epoch-marking—if not epoch-making—book. For a church living off of checks that reality won’t cash, this book is like an acid bath accounting from the bank examiners. There is no better audit of the collapse of the Christendom era, and no better audition for how to do ministry in the new world, than this one.” —Leonard Sweet (GSR; back cover) “Every passage of this book contains spiritual nuggets of truth that can help your church to grow healthy and strong.” —Rick Warren (GSR; back cover; emphasis added)

In addition to this glowing endorsement, after he wrote The Purpose Driven Life, Growing Spiritual Redwoods was given five stars in one of Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox™ newsletters for 2003.7 And on Easum and Bandy’s website under, “What Christian leaders have to say about Tom Bandy,” the following praise by Rick Warren is still posted (more praise by Leonard Sweet and also by Brian McLaren is included there as well):

According to Tom Bandy, “a whole new species of church is emerging.” This emerging church is “not a machine”—“preoccupied with theological purity, ideological correctness, and behavioral conformity”—but “an organism.” This “organism” “worships differently, thinks differently, and depends on an entirely different kind of leadership.”9 This “new species of church” is the “Spiritual Redwood” growing in the midst of the diverse, cultural “forest” (GSR; p. 21).

“Some call it a ‘permission-giving’, ‘seeker sensitive’, ‘mall’, or ‘mega’ church, but it is in reality a ‘Tree of Life’ for the spiritually yearning public of the post-Christendom period.…

“They are churches designed to grow in a riot of diversity, rather than in repetitive sameness of polity or doctrine. They are designed to grow in constant, creative chaos …” —Thomas Bandy (“Growing Spiritual Redwoods (Summary)”)10“Just finding your way through the forest, in order to discover the Spiritual Redwoods, can be a challenging prospect. Yet church leaders and spiritual seekers are setting out as never before to explore new territory, and grow a twenty-first-century version of the ‘Body of Christ.’ Before you even start, you need to equip yourself with a different map.…

“In Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Burgers, Bill [Easum] began to explore the ‘coastline’ of this new age by describing the ‘quantum world.’ It is a world of fluid processes and changing relationships, rather than fixed forms and enduring structures. In Kicking Habits: Welcome Relief for Addicted Churches, Tom [Bandy] began to explore the ‘coastline’ of this new age by describing systems of constant change, surrounded by energy fields of core visions, values, and beliefs. Together we have been further inspired by George Hunter’s description of the new age as a ‘pre-Christian’ world of religious and cultural ferment, and deep and diverse spiritual yearning.” (GSR; p. 22; bold added)

No doubt this would adamantly be denied, but Easum and Bandy’s various descriptions of this “new age” have remarkable similarities to the New Spirituality of the New Age. The following pages of nuggets from their teachings in Growing Spiritual Redwoods speak clearly for themselves in this regard.

Their highly acclaimed book includes the following changes taking place “that are changing the map for Christians”—

This new post-truth age has been embraced by those who welcome the demise of traditional Christianity. Their “changing patterns” have abandoned the “formal boundaries” of God’s truth to explore man’s “visionary direction” for attempting to unite both God and the broad way.

Although religion (theology/doctrine) divides, God and spirituality are viewed as universal and uniting. And this “spirituality” that people want to talk about in the emerging “new species of church” is no different than the “new religion” (faith) that the Angel of light and his fallen minions have been working toward:

“… people do not want to talk about religion; they do want to talk about spirituality!… The religion ‘Church Folks’ want to discuss is a body of correct information and acceptable behavior with which they want others to agree and conform. The ‘spirituality’ about which people want to talk is an attitude or orientation to daily living, and perspective from anyone is equally welcome.” (GSR; p. 37; bold added)

“The new religion is on the way, and it is one for which all previous religions have prepared us. It differs only in that it will no longer be distinguished by dogmas and doctrines, but it will be essentially an attitude of mind, an orientation to life, to man and to God. It will also be a living service.… Individualism and separatedness will disappear as that kingdom comes into being. The collective consciousness is its major expression and quality.… This is the challenge which today confronts the Christian Church. The need is for vision, wisdom and that wide tolerance which will see divinity on every hand and recognize the Christ in every human being.” —Alice Bailey (Emphasis added)11

“They [Spiritual Redwoods] empower people … to find their own incarnation of Jesus in the lives of people who have not yet experienced the gospel.” (GSR; p. 209; emphasis added)

“[A]ll people do not hold the same religious beliefs. And, in fact, not all people even participate in religion or church, in any form.

“Spirituality, on the other hand, is universal. All people participate in it. All people agree with it.…

“This is because ‘spirituality’ is nothing more than life itself, as it is.…

“The only discussion left then is whether life and God are the same things. And I tell you, they are.” (Emphasis added)12

This (New Age) New Spirituality, common to both the counterfeit kingdom and the emerging false church, is all-inclusive and presents Jesus as a way of relativism.

“… culture itself, in all its complexities and nuances, can become a vehicle for eternal truth.” (GSR; pp. 199-200; emphasis added)

“Anyone and anything can be a vehicle for the expression of God—but never contain the fullness of God. Therefore, the church recognizes that God will simultaneously employ and shatter … all doctrines, all ideologies … even within the church itself.” (GSR; p. 36; emphasis added)

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To continue reading this fascinating chapter, which investigates the authors' claims that the Crucifixion and Resurrection are "debatable" and "changeable" and "metaphor," go to http://inthenameofpurpose.org/chp22.htm. In the Name of Purpose: Sacrificing Truth on the Altar of Unity is a free e-book. Click here to open the e-book in a PDF file.

The Truth:

"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” (1 John 4:14-15)

About Me

Check your daily "HERESCOPE." Herescope is an online journal revealing heresies and false teachings affecting the church today. Copyright 2005-2017 held by the author, IRG, Inc., or Discernment Ministries, Inc. unless otherwise noted. Herescope is a term coined by Lynn Leslie literally meaning "scoping out a heresy." Herescope began as a regular magazine column in The Christian Conscience magazine published during 1995-1998 by IRG, Inc. The Discernment Research Group is an ad hoc fellowship of Christian researchers with roots dating back to 1985. For more articles, books, and newsletters go to http://www.discernment-ministries.org.